kai@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu (05/15/89)
> /* Written by mackenzi@thor.acc.stolaf.edu */ > /* ---------- "experiences networking *nix and dos" ---------- */ > > My organization is planning to get some *nix 386's and we would like > to have them share files, printers and modems with dos pc's. Does anyone > out there have experience with Xenix-net? Are there any other products out > there that will do this, under Xenix or 386/ix? I installed 3COM 3C501 ethernet cards and Sun Microsystems PC/NFS software in our PC's to provide the PC users with transparent access to the UNIX printer queues (primarily the PostScript laser printer, but also the matrix and line printers). They also have transparent *fast* access to virtual disks, which are actually files on a UNIX disk. Much larger, and only the UNIX systems need to be backed up, since no critical data is stored on a PC's hard disk. The problem with sharing text files between UNIX and MS/DOS is that UNIX separates lines with only line-feed characters, while MS/DOS uses a carriage-return/line-feed combination. This makes simultanious access by both systems a little more complicated. PC/NFS provides a pair of programs that convert text file formats (UNIX2DOS and DOS2UNIX). As for modem sharing, the best PC/NFS provides is a "telnet" program, that you can use to login to one of our UNIX hosts. On our network, all of the dialout modems are connected to one host, and we use C-Kermit to communicate with them. There is an optional RPC programming toolkit available for writing network applications, but we don't have that. With it, you would be able to write programs to run on the PC that execute subroutines and access data on both the PC and UNIX hosts. Patrick Wolfe (pat@kai.com, {uunet,uiucuxc}!kailand!pat) System Manager, Kuck & Associates, Inc.
bowles@eris.berkeley.edu (Jeff A. Bowles) (05/16/89)
In article <45100011@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu> kai@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu writes: > >> /* Written by mackenzi@thor.acc.stolaf.edu */ >> /* ---------- "experiences networking *nix and dos" ---------- */ >> >> My organization is planning to get some *nix 386's and we would like >> to have them share files, printers and modems with dos pc's. Does anyone >> out there have experience with Xenix-net? Are there any other products out >> there that will do this, under Xenix or 386/ix? > >I installed 3COM 3C501 ethernet cards and Sun Microsystems PC/NFS software in >our PC's to provide the PC users with transparent access to the UNIX printer >queues (primarily the PostScript laser printer, but also the matrix and line >printers). They also have transparent *fast* access to virtual disks, which >are actually files on a UNIX disk. Much larger, and only the UNIX systems need >to be backed up, since no critical data is stored on a PC's hard disk. Also there is FTP Software in Cambridge, MA, which has [in my opinion] an excellent track record, and with more hardware supported including non-Ethernet devices. As for me, I have Interactive's SVR3.0 with TCP/IP and a Lachman port of NFS, talking to a couple of PC-clones running MS-DOS with FTP's software. I had some Excelan cards sitting around gathering dust, and whaddayaknow, FTP had a driver for it. I'm having infancy problems with the NFS on the Unix side, but the FTP TCP/IP for MS-DOS (I haven't gotten their NFS yet) is pretty nice. Jeff Bowles